PARADIGM OF IDEAS

Patriotism

Our country Pakistan came into being in 1947 after a lot of sacrifices given by our ancestors. This country was taken from the British and Indians for Muslims to live freely in it. Though we got independence in 1947 but as a nation we have always taken dictations from foreign powers just for the sake of good for a few people. Unlike my other class fellows I have chosen to talk about sports. Like many other institutions and fields suffering in our country sports is also a field being affected. Pakistan has produced great sportsmen which have been known worldwide. Specifically Hockey, Squash and cricket have been the sports in which we have produced legends. Being the nation who gave the idea of hockey world cup and has won world cup 4 times (most by any nation till now) was not able to qualify for the 2014 world cup. Same is the case with squash producing great players like Jehangir khan and Jansher khan and ruling the world for the game has almost come to an end in the country. The only sport left in our country is cricket about which I am going to write about.
So cricket in Pakistan is something which brings the nation together on one page which honestly in Pakistan is a very though job to do. Playing its first test in 1953 and being the world champions in 1992 and 2009 Pakistan cricket has produced great Cricketers who have been known all over the world. From great bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younas, Shoaib Akhter to great batsmen like Javed Miandad Inzamam-ul-haq and many others. Reverse swing a weapon used in cricket today was introduced by a Pakistani Sarfraz Nawaz and also the off spinner which goes the other way known as the‘Dusra’ was introduced by Saqlain Mushtaq.
Pakistan cricket has produced some individual brilliance but as a system unfortunately our board has not been up to the mark. Since the beginning players have been above the system and captains have been thrown out and changed just because of a few players not willing to play under them. Player power has always dominated the team. I do not have to repeat the incidents I am sure because that would take a lot of words and time. The chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board is appointed by the head of the country which is pretty illogical and unfair. Obviously if the head of an institution is appointed unfairly how can you expect the employees of that institution under him to work fairly? The selection process
has been unfair at many times and many players have been given chances and others dropped not because of the talent they posses but because of personal likes and dislikes. The same people keep revolving in the board from one post to another.
There have been many incidents how we have put players above the system. Wasim Akram when he was accused of match fixing; during the investigation by Justice Qayyum he said

“For Wasim I had some soft corner for him. He was a very great player, a very great bowler and I was his fan, and therefore that thing did weigh with me. Two things – one, I didn’t want that the cricket should be deprived of his participation, and the other was that I didn’t want that towards the end of his career… he should be banned or something like that. My idea was not to find people guilty and then punish them. It was more of a case where I had to do something to put an end to the practice in future. What had happened had happened. You couldn’t turn the clock back but you had to make sure they wouldn’t repeat what they were doing.” If at that time Wasim had been dealt according to law and made an example people like Muhammad Amir would not have even thought of indulging in these activities and cause disrespect to their country. Furthermore how can we forget the incident of the great world cup winning captain Younas Khan how he was forced to step down as the captain after the team players under him took oath not to perfrom under his captaincy? How can we see players like Muhammad Hafeez given multiple chances in all formats and players like Asad Shafeeq and Asim kamal thrown out of the team. This has always been a dilemma in the history of our cricket. Unlike other countries for example if we take the example of England; Kevin Peterson who was man of the series in 2010 world cup was not involved in the next world cup of 2012 because of his attitude issues and an example set that nothing is above the system.
That is the reason why after 1992 till 2003 despite having world class cricketers, players who would fear any opposition on any track on a given day were not able to win the 50 over world cup again. You always win as a team not as individuals. We as a team have never been consistent and will never be because of the unfair system prevailing in our country. That is our good luck one might say that infrastructure like hockey is not required in Cricket otherwise Cricket would face the same fate as hockey and squash.